The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble laugh during an event in Hamburg, Germany, July 6, 2017.

DPA/Zuma Press

Good Morning. The International Monetary Fund and Germany have a joint message to President Donald Trump as he arrives for today’s Group of 20-summit in Hamburg: Don’t turn your back on a world forged by the U.S.

Mr. Trump should focus on the evolution of international institutions and use them as pillars to address the economic imbalances triggered by globalization, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the annual G-20 gathering,writes Emre Peker.

The call comes as leaders of the world’s top 20 economies brace for Mr. Trump’s protectionist policies, which threaten to curb America’s role as the creator and guardian of global free trade — a role that the country has played since World War II. On Wednesday, the American president said U.S. trade deals were “some of the worst” in history, questioning whether Washington should stick with them.

THE DAY AHEAD

The U.S. Labor Department releases its June employment report at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal forecast non-farm payrolls rose by 174,000 while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%. A slower pace of job gains would boost the view that the U.S. labor market is tightening and reinforce the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise short-term interest rates, writes Jeffrey Sparshott.

In the U.K., Brexit Secretary David Davis will host a group of senior business executives — a chance for business leaders to voice their concerns over the government’s strategy for exiting the European Union, the Guardian reports.

CFO JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE

Auto parts maker Faurecia bets on digitization to slash labor costs. Faurecia SA, the French auto parts maker part-owned by Peugeot SA, expects to reduce labor costs in its plants by around 25% in the coming five to eight years, the president of the firm’s China business said. “Digitization provides us with a lot of potential for cost reductions,” Jean-Michel Vallin told Nina Trentmann in Shanghai. “More data will help us to reduce both costs and people”, Mr. Vallin said.

Faurecia at the end of 2016 employed 100,000 people in 34 countries. In China, the company runs around 50 plants and employs around 16,000 workers. Annual sales in the country amount to €2.6 billion ($3 billion), Mr. Vallin said. Strong competition by Chinese component makers means that Faurecia needs to keep lowering its prices. Both material and labor costs are being scrutinized, Mr. Vallin said. “This is something we look at every day,” he said. The firm is targeting an operating margin of 10% in Asia.

Tesla Inc.’s stock down for a third day. The company’s Model S sedan failed to get top marks in some tests conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a U.S. safety group. Meanwhile, mining giant Glencore PLC agreed to sell cobalt to a Chinese firm in a move that would help Tesla’s competitor Volkswagen AG source electric vehicle car batteries. Tesla’s market value is down by nearly $8 billion after a series of disappointing news.

Dish Network’s new potential partner: Amazon. For years Dish Network Corp. Chief Executive Charlie Ergen has sought out deals and partnerships with just about every major telecom company, from Sprint Corp. to T-Mobile US Inc. to AT&T Inc. — so far, to no avail. Now, a new potential partner has emerged: Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos.

HSBC steps up search for new CEO. HSBC Holdings PLC’s incoming chairman Mark Tucker is keen to find a new leader for Europe’s biggest bank. Should the board pick an outsider, it would be the first time in the bank’s 152-year history.

Fosun denies loss of contact with chairman.Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. denied reports that it had lost contact with its Chairman Guo Guangchang for the second time in as many years, after shares in its listed subsidiaries dropped yesterday, the Financial Times reports.

Indian tax report puts Infosys to test.India’s tax reform is testing the reputation of Infosys Ltd., one of its biggest IT companies, which has been put in charge of what is probably the biggest digital project the country has ever seen, the Financial Times reports.

SoundCloud cuts 40% of workers, shuts offices. SoundCloud Ltd., the German music streaming service, made sweeping cost cuts amid worries it might be running out of cash. The Berlin-based company has struggled to make a profit amid competition from Spotify Ltd. and Apple Inc.

REGULATION

An Apple iPhone is seen at a shop in Moscow, Russia, Oct. 26, 2016.

Getty Images

Qualcomm steps up fight against Apple. Qualcomm Inc. is asking federal trade authorities to block imports of some iPhones and iPads, opening a new front in its dispute with Apple and exposing both companies to further risks to their most profitable businesses.

Former Audi manager charged.A former engine-development manager at Audi AG was charged in the U.S. for his role in a wide-ranging emissions scandal at Volkswagen that has already led to the indictment of seven others and a $2.8 billion criminal fine for the German auto maker, U.S. authorities said Thursday.

Fed gets new general counsel.A top lawyer in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s bank supervision department will take over as the central bank’s general counsel later this summer, the Fed said Thursday.

U.S. housing finance system ‘unsustainable’: Fed’s Powell.Jerome H. Powell, the Fed Reserve Governor, said that Congress should overhaul the housing finance system. Housing finance continues to be dominated by government-backed agencies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which puts taxpayers at risk, Mr. Powell said.

Mondelez suffers from cyberattack. Mondelez International Inc.’s sales in the most-recent quarter took a hit from a cyberattack that wreaked havoc across Europe and the U.S. last week, the company said Thursday.

Samsung forecasts record profit. Samsung Electronics Co. is forecasting its second-quarter operating profit will easily be the company’s highest ever, a sign the South Korean technology giant’s business is thriving even after a year of political and product stumbles.

ECONOMY

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low in May. But, job creation slowed in June, according to the ADP Report.

U.S. trade deficit narrowed in May. Exports rose to their highest level in more than two years, helping shrink the foreign-trade gap in goods and services by 2.3% from April to $46.51 billion, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

ECB prepares to whittle down QE. German government bond yields hit their highest level in 18 months on Thursday as new evidence indicates the European Central Bank is preparing to step back from eurozone debt markets. For guidance on how to exit quantitative easing, the ECB should take a look at what the Bank of Japan has done, writes Mike Bird.

CFO MOVES

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA, a Norwegian low-budget airline, said Thursday its finance chief, Frode Foss will leave the company. The firm’s Vice President for Investor Relations, Tore Østby, will take on Mr. Foss’s responsibilities for an interim period. Mr. Foss has been Norwegian Air’s CFO since the company was established in 2002.

THE WEEKEND READER

Ground Zero for Russia’s cyber weapons tests: Ukraine. Two years before Russian-backed hackers attempted to influence the U.S. election, they tested their cyber arsenal on Ukraine, according to Wired magazine. The hackers unleashed malware to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, silence TV stations and take the country’s largest railway company offline.

Why AI decisions are hard to interpret.Scientists are building increasingly more complex artificial intelligence minds while struggling to explain why these neural networks make the decisions they make. Now, scientists are also developing tools to probe AI without penetrating it, Science Magazine reports.

How to make your employees trust you.Executives and managers invest a lot of effort and time building trust in their teams. But, many employees say they do not feel trusted by their managers. And when employees don’t feel trusted, workplace productivity and engagement often suffer. It’s up to managers to signal trust in their employees in consistent and thoughtful ways, Harvard Business Review points out.

The Morning Ledger from CFO Journal cues up the most important news in corporate finance every weekday morning. Nina Trentmann contributed to today’s newsletter. Send tips, suggestions and complaints to the editor: kimberly.johnson@wsj.com.

Content from our sponsorDeloitteCFO insight and analysis written and compiled by Deloitte

CFOs indicate generally positive expectations for the macroeconomic environment in 2018, according to Deloitte’s fourth-quarter 2017 CFO Signals™ survey. That positive sentiment carries over to surveyed CFOs’ expectations for their own organizations as well, albeit with some caveats. On balance, the surveyed CFOs expect stronger North American economies, higher labor costs, low interest rates and bond yields, and a somewhat weaker dollar. They are nearly six times as likely to agree that the U.S. economy will improve in 2018 as they are to disagree—well above the 3:1 ratio from a year ago.

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